Last week friday, I finally had the opportunity to finally visit the 2nd best beach of the world (as per DOT).  I personally planned this trip as early as January which supposedly would be with only an aunt and a cousin.  Our group ballooned to 10 come travel date! Well the more the merrier.

I secured promo seats (not as cheap as I wanted them to be, hehe).  Airphil Express, the budget airline of the flag carrier Philippine Airlines opened it's Clark-Kalibo flights just this March, hence the promo.



Must I say, Airphil had good leg room, better than Cebu Pac in my opinion.  Also up to 15kg check-in baggage was free.  Flight was smooth too and most of all flights are as much as 30 minutes advance.  I'm not kidding!  We almost missed both to and fro flights!

The fact that we still had to travel Kalibo-Caticlan was no hassle at all, at least for me.  For some though it pose a little discomfort especially if you are the "ride-alight" type of passenger.  I was able to ride the fast craft to Boracay and the regular motorboats from Boracay.  For a difference of 5 pesos I'd take the fastcraft any day.  It's seats were cushioned, it was spacey, air-conditioned and was fast.  I was told that the only setback is that it docks for 15 minutes before leaving, hence a 30-minute interval on departures.  The motor boat experience was tolerable though.  Only that it's quite cramped, open to all elements ergo splashes of water and a tad more turbulent.

My first impression of Boracay is that it's too commercialized.  Shops everywhere! The whole strip of beach literally is full of business.  Obviously the first thing I did in Boracay was walk.  I actually walked too much it parallels my Sg record.  And when finally I hit the famous sand, oh my!  Definitely note worthy!  I could attest it indeed is the finest sand there is.  My personal comparison would be flour and sand.  I relate it to the feel of flour when I'm sifting.  Yes, it was that impressive.  The beach was clear, not too salty, calm and very swimmable (depth gradation was on the safe side).  That moss ruins the sand-sea  combo.  The moss was just yucky and unpleasant.  Good thing that on our side of the beach there was almost no moss.  It is concentrated near the famous Willy's rock.

I made quite a list of to-do / to-see / to-eat in Boracay.  Since I have 9 other people in tow, my time is not entirely mine.  Here's a shortlist of the "checks" I had on the list:
     To-do
     - island hopping
     - helmet diving
     To-see
     - the sand
     - willy's rock
     - puka beach
     - shangri la
     - manny's property
    To-eat
     - smoke's
     - jonah's shakes

The frown's on my list : (this were things I vowed to do but was not able to)
     - see Marc Nelson
     - visit Bolabog beach (the other side of the island)
     - parasail
     - barhop
     - eat lobster

I had no intention of going back.  Too many places to go to, so little time and resources.  But looking at my list of frowns I think I want to go back.  I just might.

This travel made me realize these things
     1)  The Philippines indeed offer a lot more beautiful places to see
     2)  This was as far as I traveled distance wise
     3)  It pays to plan well
     4)  The company you travel with affects the experience
     5)  I just might have an adventurous side, travel wise

P.S.
These are the places I have on my list: Coron, ElNido, Batanes, Caramoan, Vigan.  For now that is.  I certainly wish I get to cross out as much as I can...so I can make new lists! yay! :)

I am not even sure if the word exist... even in the urban dictionary.

I'm pretty sure you know what I mean though.

"I firmly believe that my thoughts are twitterfied"

"I'm actually having twitterfied thinking more often"

On that idle time of commuting to work when you're not sure if you are awake or not, you tend to think of random stuff. Well I do. This morning I had the realization that my thinking sounds like a tweet or a status message. It is as if my mind is always preparing to make a shoutout. Then comes an after thought of "I want to / I will tweet that later". Good thing I'm not on any unli- plan or 3G stuff that would make me "connected all the time". I'd probably be guilty of over sharing which in fact is very common nowadays, intentional or unintentional.

I loved to think back when social media was still just friendster. And then that time when you got sick of friendster being jejemon that you almost abandon it. (of course you didn't, for the sake of the photos you stored there and the privelege of stalking...) When facebook was new and my only "friends" were officemates who were within arm's reach. Nevertheless we went through the messaging, poking, playing phase. The rest I guess is history. Twitter I actually have no recall of it's roots. All I know is that I used it to follow (ergo stalk) celebrities and who's who. And of course tumblr! My shrine of all things pretty and nice (still is)

As of today, boy oh boy my small spaces in the world wide web grew as fast as a wild brush. On average I get 20 notifications in Facebook, my twitter updates loads 10stats minimum...per minute! And I stay in tumblr to backtrack 50 pages of posts. CRAZY! Everyone is wanting an audience. That is what social media made of us, attention grabbers. Admit it all the stuff you post in these sites are meant for all to see. You often check if somebody liked, commented, shared, retweeted your posts. Social media gave us a stage to be in. Good or bad I have no studies to present.

All I know now is that I am aware of this culture of over sharing. At present I am trying to analyze if I'm actually part of the guilty ones. I know though that since I am aware of such, I tend to self-regulate. I censor myself too. What I don't want I won't do. But there are moments when you just want to share, referring to the true essence of it. That I am guilty of. Sharing stuff for all to see, experience, be aware of. I had moments of ranting too, trying to send a message. And although some "spam" annoys me, some I genuinely appreciate too. Like this friend who shares political issues, one that posts witty 9gags, a techy friend, a spiritual one. Filtering is becoming a talent. The ability to just focus on what picks your interest and ignore that which would waste your time.

The new age of social media. So many new issues for social sciences to explore.

If in the future I annoy you because I am over sharing / spamming / wasting your time ...I apologize. Maybe I fell victim to what these new generation had become.

I'm posting about my love affair to taxi cabs also known as my shameless katamaran to take public transport and learning to drive.

FYI

In Metro Manila...(not sure about Baguio, Cebu, Davao...the only other places I know that have taxis)

flag down rate is P40 and then P3.50 every succeeding 250 meters or 2 minutes idle time.

In the world the Philippines rank fairly among those with the cheapest taxi fares. A little over that of Delhi, Mumbai, Cairo and La paz, Bolivia. On the expensive end of the list would be Zurich, Oslo, Tokyo to name a few. (source) Imagine a P100(Manila) to a P1200 (Zurich) price difference for the same length of travel. Oh, Lord! Mental note not to take ANY cab ride in the whole of Europe no matter what. Assuming I get to go to Europe in the first place. Haha

I chose that airport taxi picture because airport taxi rates are way more expensive as I guess is the norm in any part of the world(?) I think flag down is P70 then P4 for every 200m. I only had one experience with those yellow airport taxis. Cost me P650 from the airport to where I live. Despite people saying it was fairly okay, that still makes me sad. Haha. It took P200 same distance taking a regular white one.

Anyways, so what's this 'love affair' with taxi thingy?

Don't get me wrong, I am a patron of public transport. Provided that it functions at its best I don't mind taking it. In fact what i love most about Singapore is their transport system even if I had experienced 2 train mishaps that caused delay (big deal among the locals, we Filipino tourists didn't mind at all haha) If only I could say the same for the Philippines...

Ironically I take public transport day in day out. I ride a jeep to where I'm going to take a fx or van to work, then walk. Going home I take a jeep to the MRT station, ride the MRT, walk to the LRT station, ride the LRT then take again fx ride home. On tamad days I go to work same way but I alight at Kalayaan and ride a taxi to work from there. Practically because it takes less time to travel. Taxi fare for that small stretch is ~P100

Imagine if I refrain from being tamad, I get to save P500 a week P2000 a month!

I've realized that long before. In fact I made it a Lenten sacrifice last year of which I was successful. I wanted to do the same this year, but with my unpredictable schedule it gets harder. For one, I take the cab going to places I haven't been to regularly. I took the cab all the time when I was job hunting. You can imagine the cost, I was on welfare c/o parents that time. I like the donya idea of just hopping in and waiting to alight to exactly where you are going. Especially when I'm all made up, in formal clothes and uncomfy dressy shoes. You might figure, I don't like driving too. I once told my parents, I'll take the car if I can afford to hire a driver. Although sometimes I like the liberating idea of being anywhere you want to be. Then I think about high fuel costs and parking stress, ergo back to loving the cabs.

I really have to stop taking the cab everywhere. That or I really have to work harder (earn better) to afford taking one all the time.

As of this post I failed my lenten sacrifice by 6 times. ^_^

It's just day 4 of Lent. What a fail. Add to that I ate burger and chicken on a friday. The burger was a missed thought the chicken though I was aware of but made an excuse that it is 'white meat'. Based on what I reviewed chicken is not allowed, only fish/seafood is.

I'm really feeling bad about this Lent. I feel such a failure. But then again it's just day 4. I have 36 more days to make up for it. So this lent I'd still refrain from taking a cab to work, which means I should always be earlier or less late-r (lols). No meat on fridays including chicken and if possible no rice. Keep up with the charity pledge. I hope I get to the 'food for the needy' thing I was thinking of. And i have to pray more, go to church more often and just be extra extra nice whatever it takes and despite all circumstances.

If you think of or have known me as a 'good' person, I want to feel worthy of that again. Because on the past couple of years I was really a disappointment even to my low-expectation self. And so let the mantra be : BIDA BEST (abscbn)

ending the post with that lol because if not I might take the cab again to where I'm going. I refuse, so tata y'all!

Although it's valentine's day, this is not a post about my love life...or the lack of it...

It could pass as a post about love still...because I love my friends...ROFLMAO sa ka-cheesy-han...hahaha

I just realized how much and at the same time less effort it takes to maintain friendships as you grow old. When still babies, your friends were your cousins, sisters, brothers, yaya or parents. When still in school, your friends are your playmates, neighbors and classmates which most likely you see everyday. When you transfer schools (in my case, college) you make new friends, but still pinky promise to stay friends forever with the old ones. When you start working, you make all kinds of friends but not all turn out to be relationships. When you marry, your husband becomes your friend so does his family and his friends, then your children and your children's friends' family...and so on. And with that life happens and all seems complicated all of a sudden.

The farthest I can remember of friendships were my grade school friends. The ones I made a promise with to see on Jan. 1, 2000 in Quezon City Circle. Haha. We never get to fulfill that promise. Or some of them might had, sadly I didn't. By 2000 I found it silly and childish, today I look at it with fondness and regret. I'm still in touch with quite a few, thanks to social networking.

My high school friends probably were those who really stuck together. We see each other once a year or even less for some. But these six I can say withstood the test of varied experiences. We are as chopsuey as we can be and how we evolved into a group is almost always a topic worth reminiscing.

My college friends are quite hard for me to put into circles. I developed lots of varying friendships with a lot of people. My friends from my freshman block pretty much stuck together too. I used to see them once a year also, mostly christmas time. Apart from them I had friends from all batches, brought about by the org and my overstaying involvement to it. This people I see erratically. Sometimes often in periods and sometimes as rare as a blue moon.

This is where all the sudden realizations came from. Literally distance separates us. Of my closest college friends I could say 75 percent are not in Manila or not even in the Philippines at all. That's freaking 75 percent! That's one disadvantage of living in the age of globalization. It scatters relationships. Relationships are extra harder to maintain if what you want is the intimate kind of having dinners together, going out, travelling and being on each other's milestones. It easier if you prefer the less intrusive type of merely knowing about snippets of what's happening on each other's lives through statuses. I personally can't say if I prefer one over the other. Life is crazier this times. Busy is a word used as busy as it could be. I am glad I have both means, whatever it takes to 'connect' is fine with me. I am big on milestones though. And I want to spend time with friends no matter how rare that could be. It means only one thing, I have to save up on time and money so I can afford it. Haha. I forever have this wish to be in places where my friends lived or wherever they are now. My college friends are from all over the country and I made that my bucket list of places to go to in the Philippines. Then when some went abroad to settle, I added foreign countries to the list too. As of today I get to check one on that list. ONE. And I did not even meet my friends there because there was no time. I wonder if I get to fulfill that bucket list... Maybe if I win the lottery in the near future...

All this rant boils down to one recent event. I was supposed to be somewhere in the South the past weekend. I promised a friend last year I'd be there. My other friends were non-committal until recently. I didn't want to fly there alone and attend a social gathering of which I'd know no one except my friend. And add to that I wasn't foreseeing what situation I'd be right now. My friend is probably mad. But I hope he is happy... So congratulations to my newly married friend... hope to meet your wife and children someday... :)

I love february. Yep this overly commercialized love month. I am not saying this because I am one happy girl who found the guy of her dreams and thus anticipates flowers and chocolates on valentine's day. In fact, I am a love sick person whose only memory of being given flowers by the guy of her dreams is a total heartache. No, I am too love drugged to talk about that... So, why?

Yes, I love feb because it IS the love month. I celebrate the kind of love that is romantic even if I only see it from the outside. I am happy that at least I know it does exist. I am weird that way. My fascination with romantic films, love stories and grand gestures of love is over the top I guess. That someone elses "kilig" overflows to me (not all the time though, some are really eewww bad) My bitterness level is minute I think. Moments of bitterness do exist for me. I think it is but the norm since I'm loveless rather partnerless and that I'm human. I do stare at girls cradling bouquets enviously. Though I think how awkward that could feel. I walk through a flower shop, picking flowers that I like pretending to anticipate what I might get. That's about it. Flowers. It's just the flowers. Chocolates are no biggie, bears not my thing too and dates?! Gah... so passe. Oh, and on hindsight it's just not the flowers...it includes what's written on the card too. I love love letters. My future husband better be a hopeless romantic like I am or else...I'd never have a future husband. Haha

Going back to the point of this post. I love Feb too because love is in the air. Love stories everywhere! It is heaven to my hopeless romantic heart. Thus although I had quite a difficult time picking what to watch since January, I knew Feb would be go-to-the-movies month. So I start my resolution this year with a movie date to watch...dun, dun, dun



For a long time I thought this was a Nicholas Sparks story. I made the connection merely because these two actors are quite synonymous to Sparks' characters that made a mark I guess. Rachel was in The Notebook and Channing was in Dear John. Channing Tatum was exactly who I pictured for Dear John, *insert fangirl squeal*. I would've watched The Vow if only for Channing and the love story theme period. BUT I found out that it isn't a Sparks' story. I searched high and low for a copy of "The Vow by Nicholas Sparks" and can't find any. I can't because there is none, haha fail. But what is amazing though is that the film is indeed a book adaptation of a TRUE love story. Oh my happy heart! So I really recommend you watch it. It is indeed a feel good movie but the kind that tells you it's not superficial it indeed existed.

More thoughts...
1) Scott Speedman was on the film...My girly crush Scott Speedman from felicity. He was still a looker although he aged far worse that he could've had. Seeing him on screen brought back lots of felicity memories.

2) Channing was the muse of this film. A lot of close ups and abs and even a butt exposure. Channing can't really be bi...he can't be...please no.

3) The premise of the story was something I haven't thought of. Maybe that's why I liked the film. It opened a lot of questions in my mind.

4) Quotable quotes...lots of quotable quotes I can't help but share some...

"Life’s all about moments of impact, and how they change our lives forever."

...and the actual vows...

I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

-Paige

I vow to fiercely love you in all your forms, now and forever. I promise to never forget that this is a once in a lifetime love. I vow to love you, and no matter what challenges might carry us apart, we will always find a way back to each other.

-Leo

How can you not be in love???

I am in love with love. Yes I admit.

I want a new ipod...or an iphone... but this is not the right time to get one... =(

flashback saturday...
Last saturday was 'barangay fiesta' in the province. I did a little research and discovered that our patron is the holy family. That explains while all nearby barangays are named after saints (San Miguel, San Francisco, San Rafael...) while ours was named after a creek (Sapang Tagalog). I have to dig deeper to know about the history of our province. I have to do the research sometime. (I hope I won't forget)

A trip to the province solely depend on the whim of ze mader... She being the driver and financier. My siblings and I are accustomed to waking up on a Saturday morning to my mom's drill-sergeant-like demeanor. Orders fly here and there. Wake-up! Take a bath! Pack your bags! Close your windows! Unplug everything! Move faster! Out of whim we are herded to ze car and travels 3.5 hours to ze province. Yes, 3.5 hours. Due to a lot of stopovers an additional 1.5 hours is added to travel time. As I discovered last saturday, that by bus it only takes a little over 2 hours.

Because I was trying to make my Saturdays eventful, I took saturday classes again this semester. In fact I wanted my whole saturday to be busy. I think I regret that now, though I'm not sure. Because of that I had to take the bus and travel alone since ze family usually leaves as I mentioned, in the morning. This is not the first time though. Actually it happens quite often since my Saturday's are usually "busy".
The farthest I had to travel to alone was Manila-Baguio. I don't mind travelling alone, as long as I'm up to it. If I'm not I tend to develop all the kinds of sickness my brain can produce.

And so I traveled alone on that Saturday night. Waited for the bus on the "illegal" bus waiting area in trinoma. Opted for a bus with wifi for experience. Sat as close to the TV in case I need entertainment. Armed with food takeout that could last me until Baguio, a fully charged ipod and cellphone and wifi to boot, I was a happy traveler. Only not so nice thing is that buses here are usually cramped. Space is limited, thus eating is a challenge.

I rarely sleep on road trips especially when I'm travelling alone. Unless I am dead tired. Thus, I am a prepared traveler always.

The purpose of this post is to rant about my phone's crappy camera. Despite having no alternative, I rarely use it because the picture most of the time is dead plain. My camera duby died on me sometime ago. The lens went beserk all of a sudden, thus it's now a paperweight. I wanted that iphone/ipod touch with a camera since it was launched. My ipod juliet was pretty young that time so a purchase is quite impractiocal. I wanted the gadget mostly because of the camera and the ease to share stuff while on wifi. Circumstances prevented the imminent purchase. That I think is more than a year ago and until now It's still that one thing I wished I got to do sometime.

A camera and the works had been on my wants for the longest time. It sometimes border the needs. I am sad that I don't get to take pictures of interesting things. I regret that I can't share stuff because I can't document.

I used to strive for a macbook...now I want an iphone too and an ipad. The only thing I can afford I guess is a new ipod touch. But not yet. In 2 months hopefully

I can't help but sing breakup songs in times like these...breaking up indeed is hard to do. Yes, I'm attempting metaphors. Go figure...

A week from celebrating my birthday, it's only now that I get to blog about it. First I had to research trivia about my age. Well you know last year my age had a 'spiritual' meaning. It was the same age that Jesus started his mission. Most of the stories we know of his adult life happened and started when he was my age. It definitely had significant on my life. I had to go through a lot of things in 2011 (but 2012 would be a LOT more crazier). I wanted to start working on similar projects as Jesus did (evangelization, charity, etc) but nothing materialized. ( I feel guilty realizing this now...) So, fast forward to this year... By this time, Jesus is set to die on the cross. WHAT?! "I'm not going to die yet, or am I?" Haha. Such morbid thoughts. By this age Jesus was finished with his mission, I don't think I had already started with mine. Although Jesus had to die to save all mankind, an ultimate sacrifice. And indeed I am making a huge sacrifice. 'nuff said.

I googled and was reminded that Brittany Murphy tragically died at this age. Death again?! Ohmy! Haha. But with that there were lots of pictures of women at this age who remained stunning nevertheless. Therefore... I'll see this year as that. A kikay year to give myself the most attention. The past years I'd been really lazy about taking care of myself. It amazes me that people would perceive me as younger than my age (thanks to working with kids and for kids). For all that I did (or did not do) I should look 10 years older. So next year let's wish for an older but prettier me. =) Bwahaha

So what happened on my birthday?

I am extremely grateful that I still had birthday leave this year! So...I had a free day solely for myself. As you know, I plan my birthdays. Usually if it's on a weekday I plan things I get to do alone (lame, forever alone haha). Dinner is with the family at home as usual. But this year I get to celebrate in fact not by myself (yey!).

First on my task is to go to mass. In a church I haven't been to. I sort of made it a tradition. I have a fascination with beautiful churches. Add to that, I have that belief (pagan) that you can make a wish if you visit a church for the first time. Haha. But my biggest take on this 'tradition' is that I get to say my sincerest prayer because I usually linger after mass.

This year I went here.

I've always wanted to see this iconic church. I didn't pay attention to the facade at first. I went directly inside. It was smaller than what I was expecting from the inside but it was impressive. I was first impressed of the flat screen monitors. I think there was a 32" screen every 3 rows of pews. Then there was the traditional pulpit that reminds me of Noli Me Tangere. The 'retablo' was not as grandiose as other old churches. And I realized that the cathedral's patron was the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was built in the 16th century but looks pretty well taken care off. The ceilings and arcs are pretty impressive too. There were a lot of tourists who were there, taking pictures and going through the side altars. That time there were 3 side altars, 1) for Mary, 2) the idea of Purgatory and 3) the Cathedral's history. I went through all 3 (but had to rush on the last, eeepp) I am awed by the old manila vibe. Despite the "modernization" of some parts of Intramuros, I still ♥ the rustic parts of it. And it makes me proud that there are still nice places that tourists can see. This cathedral is definitely one of them.

Next I had to meet my aunt here

unfortunatel it's not yet time for sunset so I had to make do with less beautiful view. But yet again this is one of the places I love in the metro. It's far from the hussle and bussle of the city I am used to see every day. During sunset, it's another wonderful site to behold. I used to dream of waking up with the view of this bay. But after that horrendous storm surge, no thanks. I guess I am ok with the floods rather than the tsunami like waves.

Commuting to that mall nearby, I get to see luneta from the jeep. I miss Luneta...

So, off we went to eat lunch (had steak in a food court) and meet the cousin. Then off to the water spa we went.

The discovery of this nearby spa led to crazy purchase of coupons. Me and my sister had so much fun the first time we wanted everyone to experience it. Hence the hoarding. The first time was really fun. This time around it was more fun to initiate the newbies and let them enjoy.

Went home afterwards to eat dinner. We really wanted to eat buffet but had to customary celebrate with the family. To my surprise though there was no party. Haha. I had no buffet table of my own. The mother took a long time to go home and did not bring anything. Ahhhh! It was a bummer at first but oh well I am to 'old' to whine about that. So we just had dinner. And ate my favorite cake (only this time)

tadaaan..

This is my fail cake... Looks like a dome something. Actually it is a molten ice cream cake that apparently was placed on the ref and not the freezer...FAIL! haha And notice there were no candles! =( Good thing I love this ice cream cake so much, the appearance and the lack of ceremonies didn't dampen my happy mood. (ok, just a little disappointment then) Which reminds me...THAT is what I haven't done yet...blow a candle on a birthday cake. Lols... Birthday party for myself next week then. Haha.

But seriously, I had a nice birthday. And amidst all I am truly grateful for the year that was and hopeful and optimistic for the year that would be...So to my*bleep* year old self...

in lieu of my last post... my new year's resolution would include...


I promise myself to update that to watch list and prioritize (how lame could I be? haha) movie-watching. I want to narrow that lengthy watchlist. My forecast is ~200 movies this year. That's an upper limit, well in fact I'm overestimating here. But if I have the time I'd watch 1 movie a day...so that's 366 for 2012... I can attempt that 200 I guess. Also, I have to be in an actual cinema in atleast 20 times (50 is my exagerated target) Haha

Movie year it is for 2012...

Though I still want to be faithful to my tv series...grey's, modern family, survivor, GOT and WD (hopefully)...and if I can do the HIMYM marathon then good!

...and of course my readings! dan brown, 3 sparks, 3 coehlo's and the scott's. I'll attempt 2 new YA series and a few books I guess...and school? I commit to a min of 2 journals a day...

...the impossible feat...

First order of the year...I have to be the best in time management...Should be worth it if the world ends in 2012...

Haha..

...from imdb.com

Top 25 Box Office of 2011

(as of December 19, 2011)

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 ($381M)
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($352M)
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 ($266M)
• The Hangover Part II ($254M)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($241M)
• Fast Five ($210M)
• Cars 2 ($191M)
• Thor ($181M)
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes ($177M)
• Captain America: The First Avenger ($177M)
• The Help ($169M)
• Bridesmaids ($169M)
• Kung Fu Panda 2 ($165M)
• X-Men: First Class ($146M)
• Rio ($144M)
• The Smurfs ($143M)
• Puss in Boots ($142M)
• Super 8 ($127M)
• Rango ($123M)
• Horrible Bosss ($118M)
• Green Lantern ($117M)
The King's Speech
• ($116M)
• Hop ($108M)
• Paranormal Activity 3 ($104M)
• Just Go with It ($103M

Everything in red...is what I haven't watched! Where was I? What did I do in 2011? And the more significant question is...what else (if any) did I watch?!

Truth be told, I haven't been watching a lot of movies lately. Most movies I watched were part of my watchlist wherein obviously I am way behind. I watch much much less pinoy movies too this year. Unlike the past years I have backlog on cheesy Filipino romcoms this time. Haha. And I did not watch a single film fest entry.

I'd been faithful to my favorite TV shows though. Although I regret that I can't fit much recommended ones on my spare time. On hindsight, I am 1 season behind House so I'll prioritize that.

My imdb watchlist is nearing 50. This I know because I was planning on adding movies to watch on it. How I could manage to get updated on that, I have no idea.

Add to that I have 14 books to read, lots and lots of articles and journals to read and a thesis proposal to whip up.

Fun is hard to come by I guess...

There is 1 solution though...I need to master and survive a 5-hour sleeping time. I heard most successful people can do it...So here's to success and a mind set to hate sleep...

My first ever post this 2012.

By this time on this day every year, I usually reflect on the year that was. Most years I wrote in my diary. I guess tech age made me too lazy to continue with tradition. But now that I remembered I might do actual writing in a while. Anyways it's fun to make fun of your old self when re-reading your younger self's notes.

Also it's the only time I text and reply to each and every message. Again time changed. I had posted on my wall, tweeted and blogged, this day and age that I guess suffice. I usually am so sentimental on this day ( I feel I still am...) I think of all those people I like to thank or be thankful for. I think of all the blessings, the joys, the pains. I think about all the obsession I went through. All the movies / shows I watched and loved. All the songs I played over and over. All the crushes I had. And all that made my past year. Then I pray and say thanks, I talk to God to share my thoughts and I make lotsa plans. Mind you I ask for a lot of things too...haha But I always end it with "thy will be done Lord". That in fact still a debate in my head. Am I being faithful or coward.

This time also signals the start of changing tons of passwords...I made it my own little tradition so I'd never forget. Thinking of my word of the year as of the moment.

And last but not the least, I plan my birthday. I am always on leave on that day. I hold it sacred. That day is MY day so I'll do whatever I want. The past years I make it a point to hear mass in a church I've never been to. I had decided where to go this year. On work days I eat alone and celebrate (or sulk about ) my forever alone state. Haha. I am not usually bothered by age. Ok I do sometimes but it's no biggie. This year is monumental though, I'm going to be kicked out of the calendar. Haha. *shrugs* That's life!

My star map predicts huge changes and a change in perspective around this age. I actually planned to be philanthropic at this age... But I planned to get married at 25 too, didn't happen so go figure. But still who knows. Like many of you I feel extremely hopeful for the coming year. I'm still deciding on my wishes and plans but I can say that happiness is part of that list. I live by the theory that your happiness is your own. But I acknowledge reality too, so I wish happiness comes easily with everything.

Last but not the least...on this day I write lengthy compositions...all the time. Haha...

And that's my cue to stop and hit publish on this post.

Happy New Year everyone! ♥♥♥